The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

WHITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1988, PAG5 Election day in Beaver, Ont. dawns decisively. The sun kicks through layers of clouds, bullies aside low-lying mists and shines directly down on city hall. Lucas Letterpress wakes earlier. He stretches twice, shaves once and bols the kettle for a cup of tea. Lucas loves tea. He also loves elections. "Better-than the Stanley Cup finals," he once told bis readers. "And it involves folks we ail know." Which is true. For this election is the mayoral election, for the greater municipality of Beaver, Ont., in the region of Humdrum; it is a tight race, and as Lucas and other pundits have stressed, it will be a close one. In the running are three candidates: Mayor Johnny Cannuck, the incumbent, whose broad chin cari take the most savage criticisms. During the F'ree Trade Poker stakes, Cannuck won faine for bis daring in placing bis mother's family farm on the table. He dlaims he did not, but the doubt had been sown; Razor Strop, a former mayor, known for b-is two icy blue eyes whicb always focus on one point somewhere in the inflnity beyond a cameraman's left shoulder. Just before the election officially got underway, Strop stole the cards from Mayor Johnny's poker game and hid them out at the Faith and Preserve Us Nursing Home. He's promised to return tbem only if be loses the election, or if he wins and cari find a wild joker in the pack; Bent Broadaxe, leader of the Beaver Amalgamated Noodcutters, (BAW), bas run several timnes before. Townfolk always lke Bent best, and will tell you they'd rather have hlm as mayor than anyone else -- as long as they don~t bave te vote for him. They neyer do. WITH OUR FEET UP by Bill Swan Ail you need to know These three compete for attention in Lucasd tbougbts as he makes bis way te bis office. Before the day ends, one of these charmers will be elected mayor of ail of Beaver. The thougbt sends sbivers up and down bis spine. He bas an bour before the polis open. Lucas hopes that hour will be long enough. He enters the office and turns on bis computer. "Okay, baby, do vour work." The computer hums and clicks, offers a couple of wirs as it digests bits and bytes and devours batch files; numbers flash. Lucas remembers the day the salesperson arrived at bis office door. "We bave a computer," he bas said. "But not like. this one,'" said the salesperson, ber pearl tooth glistening in the flickering fluorescent ligbt of early November. "No computer cari match tbis one." "Software. New software. You've got to see it to believe it." Lucas lifted bis right eyebrow. "Number crunching power," she continued. "Put al your numbers in this end, and out corne the resuits." "0f what?" "0f what? 0f the election, of course. With this piece software you will neyer have to wait on those dreary people to count votes again. This littie darling will tell you ail you need te know." 'We have," Lucas had said, "a computer that will do that now. "Aha!" Not like this you don't. Ilil bet you have to slave away for hours, pumping election resuits into the littie buqger on election night, eh?" "Sure.' "Not any more you don't. This program is the ultimate refinement. No longer do we need even any of those early results te predict a trtlnd. Just turn ber on and let 'er go."- "On election night?" "On election nigbt, afternoon, morning, who cares?' It no longer matters. No longer do we have to wait on those pesky voters te cast their ballots. This machine cari tell-us the results without ail that bother." Lucas. hangs up bis coat. The computer stops its whirring and hiccups twice. The printer beside it starts spewing out printeuts. Lucas ambles over and starts ta, read. Finally, he sits down at his old computer and starts to wri te the lead story for that week's paper: Mayor Johnny wins again! Beaver voters today rè.elected Mayor Johnny.. .. StilI, Lucas will always wonder if a Japanese computer would have given the town the same results. He'1l neyer know. Tearn effort led wo summit of Everest FROM PAGE 2 climb 14,000 feet every tbree days. A slow pace, according to Skreslet. Skreslet said that bas cianged witb modemn advances. He noted that just recently, a French team bad reacbed the summit in 22 boums.. Skeslet's team set up base camp at 17,400 feet. Climbing would begin at 1:30 a.m., and tbey bad to be off tbe mountain and back at camp by 10:30 a.m., according te Skeslet, because temperatures would climb te, 38 C. At one point in the climb a î glacier sbifted, sending three men j falling. One, a OBO cameraman* fromn Vancouver, was killed. An avalanche also took the life of another. They found hlm buried under 50 feet of ice. In ail, six people died on the expedition. It was then that seven members of the team decided the risk was too great, and they left the expedition. As the climb pogressed, jSkreslet said the team ran out of ladders wbich tbey used as bridges te cross crevices. The answer was te remove the ladders after cossing a crevice and carry it to the next crevice. Climbers then knew tbey would not be able te return te base camp, according te Skreslet. Thyeventually set up their third camp at 23,000 feet, fromn wbicb point they would make their final assault on the summit. At 4:15 a.m., Oct. 22, Skreslet and two guides left the camp te attempt the summit. On tbeir way up, tbey found the corpise of a woman who had reached the summit on an earlier expedition but neyer retumned ta tell anyone <of ber triumph. One of the guides with Skeslet had been withthe woman wben she died. At 9:30 a.m., Skreslet and the two guides reacbed tbe summit. "J was there for 33 minutes and ail that was on my mnd was bow te, get off. I knew I would bave time te, think about the accomplisbment later." The next day, a second Canadian and two guides successfully reacbed tbe summit. Four months afier his climb, Skreslet was approached by one of the seven wbo bad abandoned the first expedition. He asked Skreslet if he would be willing te try Everest again. later. Skreslet was not one of the In May, 1986 a team of il two. climbers (witbout guides) and five As part of bis presentation he tons of equipment attempted the also sbowed a two-minute video chimb. They successfully put two be took while near the top of climbers on the summit 71 days Everest. i 0 CORPORATION OF THE * TOWN 0F WHITB4 TO THE RESIDENTS 0F THE TOWN 0F WHITBY THE MAOR AND COUINCIL cf the TOWN F WHITBY Cardially invite you and your famnily ta attend the TWELFTH OLD TYME CHRISTMAS PARTY ta be held an SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1988 at the Whitby Municipal Building, 575 Rossland Road East, tram 2:00 p.m. ta 4,00 p.m. There wiIl be Entertainment, Santa far the Children and a fun-filled afternoan far everyane. 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